It's all worth the trouble
by patrickc94
Summary: In the manga and in the anime we have seen Naruto pull off some amazing feats and come up with some amazing on the spot plans. What would happen if Naruto developed and honed his strategic mind at the beginning? The answer; a whole lot of trouble, but somehow it's all going to be worth it in the end. FemShika/Naruto. Rating may change


It's all worth the trouble

Summary- In the manga and in the anime we have seen Naruto pull off some amazing feats and come up with some amazing on the spot plans. What would happen if Naruto developed and honed his strategic mind at the beginning? The answer; a whole lot of trouble, but somehow it's all going to be worth it in the end.

* * *

It's been a day since the genin exam and Naruto was walking down the streets of Konoha with a depressed air. It was clear to those who cared to notice that Naruto was very troubled; his face was fixed with a very uncharacteristic frown which looked quite unusual on the otherwise highly spirited child's face, his eyes which on any other day shone with silent laughter and mischief now held anger and disgust, something was indeed very wrong. Naruto sullenly walked aimlessly letting his feet take him wherever they willed not caring about his destination while thoughts of self-deprecation were swimming through his mind

"_I am so STUPID! I can't believe I let that Sasuke-teme show me up so much now Sakura-Chan is going to think the teme is even more special, always walking around thinking he's better than everyone else, well YOUR NOT!" _Naruto thoughts were solely focused on his less than lacklustre performance in his hidden genin exam and how (in his opinion) he was shown up by his so called rival Sasuke Uchiha. In reality Naruto's performance was admiral being able to pull off a Jōnin level ninjutsu, showing better than average (for a genin) taijutsu and showing extreme resilience and fortitude in his battle with kakashi. If he were to look at the situation impartially he would find that it was not he who let the team down it was his pink haired team mate but of course Naruto had fallen victim to his budding hormones so of course she was not the problem.

Naruto suddenly halted and sighed heavily "How am going to get any better if sensei won't help me" Naruto's thoughts quickly went back to his talk with kakashi earlier that day.

_Flashback_

It was early afternoon and Team 7's training had just finished, there training mostly consisted of friendly spars and learning how to work together two members of the newly formed team 7 were greatly underwhelmed with what they were learning the third was quite happy with what they were learning for she was able to complete the exercises and still look her best. Naruto and Sasuke were once again sparing for the third time that day while Sakura cheered in the back round

"GO SASUKE KICK THAT BAKA'S ASS!" This of course proceeded to make Naruto angry and quite volatile

"Smug Bastard I'll show him who's better then Sakura will see who's the baka, dattebayo." Incensed and ready to fight Naruto charged ahead forgetting the oh so important lessons that Iruka pounded into his head, the spar ended as expected Naruto was flat on his back while Sasuke stood over him with a self-satisfied smirk on his face

"Tch dope"

"Yaaay Sasuke-kun, face it Naruto you can't beat him" grumbling Naruto lifted himself to his feat cursing to himself, he could almost see Iruka's disappointed face "_Naruto you never charge head on into battle without a plan of attack nor do you attack with wild abandon these things make you predictable and these things can get you killed" _gathering his thoughts and remembering what little he had been taught he readied himself for another spar, seeing this Sasuke smirked and dropped into a battle stance but before they could start a voice called throughout the clearing

"That's enough for today" The boys looked at their sensei and gave him matching looks of disappointment but they reluctantly backed down. Kakashi's one visible eye held nothing but boredom and his body seemed to be in a permanently relaxed state but to those that knew where to look this man was coiled and ready to strike if needed "Alright my little genin we will meet back here at 0800 hours for more training then we will take on another d rank mission, dismissed" and with that kakashi casually walked off into the woods of training ground 3 presumably on his way to visit the memorial stone. Naruto seeing his opportunity took off after Kakashi hoping to ask him for his help with his training. Meanwhile Sasuke walked off to god knows where while Sakura not so stealthily tried to follow him.

* * *

Arriving at the memorial stone Naruto saw kakashi there with his head down seemingly lost in thought and his icha icha book which Naruto now consider to be a permanent fixture was nowhere to be seen.

"I know why you are here Naruto" Naruto jumped in surprise completely immersed in his observations he did not think that kakashi noticed him "I can't train you Naruto" Naruto looked surprised and angered by this statement and being the hot head that he is had no qualms with voicing his displeasure.

"Why the hell not? That's your job isn't it sensei!" Kakashi sighed and almost palmed his head in frustration. Of course Naruto would not think to look underneath the underneath and take the title of sensei at face value, sighing for what felt like the umpteenth time that day Kakashi directed his gaze lazily to Naruto's eyes.

"Naruto what did Iruka say about your Jōnin sensei's role" Getting into a thinking pose Naruto put his hand on his chin, closed his eyes and adopted a look which kakashi thought made him look constipated. Suddenly Naruto's eyes opened and kakashi idly wondered where the light bulb on top of his head was.

"He said that you were going to guide us on our shinobi carers"

"Indeed he did, but he said nothing about teaching you jutsu did he" Naruto adopted a look of confusion which once again made kakashi sigh "Naruto my job as your Jōnin sensei is to make sure you know generic skills such as advanced chakra control, basic and intermediate first aid, politics, protocol and how the chain of command works, but most importantly my job is to make sure you know how to work in a team, every mission that konoha assigns is done by a team only anbu and elite Jōnin have the privilege of taking solo missions everyone else works in teams, I have to teach you how to use your abilities to best serve whatever team you are placed in, you will find as you progress through the ranks that you are rotated through different teams depending on where you are needed most the more you are needed the more missions you will be ordered to take. I'm sorry Naruto but if you want to learn more jutsu you will have to do it by yourself." Naruto gaze found the ground below him his arms were clasped to his sides and his fists were clenched in frustration, deciding to not say anything Naruto just turned and walked away. Sighing again at his student's hot hotheadedness he turned his gaze back to the memorial stone "_I'm sorry sensei, if you were here you could teach him all that he would ever need" _Shaking his head he made a mental note to introduce Naruto to the shinobi library in the hopes that some of his heritage would shine through.

_Present Time_

Naruto still completely immobile did not even notice that his feet had taken him to the shinobi academy. The grounds were quiet and there was not a hopeful ninja-to-be insight, the children had clearly gone home. Naruto coming back to his senses looked up, noticing where he was Naruto decided that he needed to talk to one of the very few people that were in his corner, Knowing that Iruka liked to spend time after class to grade papers he hurriedly ran to Iruka's office hoping to get some answers and hopefully some advice.

Knocking on the office door Naruto was able to hear Iruka muffled voice beckoning him in. Iruka smiled when he looked up from his papers, he gestured to the seat in front of the desk and it was happily occupied by Naruto

"So Naruto, What's wrong"

"Huh, how do you know something is wrong" Iruka simply laughed at his favorite and admittedly worst student.

"Naruto you've been here for 10 seconds and you have yet to ask me to buy you ramen plus you've got that look in your eye so tell me what's wrong"

"Kakashi sensei told me that it is not his job to teach me jutsu, he said that I have to learn by myself"

"Ahh, you thought just because he was your sensei that he would teach you all he knew right. I'm sorry Naruto but it doesn't work that way, he is there to teach you how to conduct yourself in front of clients, how to work in a team and some generic shinobi skills like chakra control, he is also there as a sparring partner so you can measure you improvement against a serious opponent he can also give you hint's and tips on how to better improve yourself." Hearing this Naruto depressed mood became even worse it seemed that all of his hopes and dreams were going to die long before they even had a chance to flourish. In a subdued voice Naruto queried something to Iruka that would slowly change his perspective of the shinobi world and of himself

"So is there nothing I can do?" Iruka raised his eye brows at the question to him this was a golden opportunity to finally get Naruto's full attention and his commitment to learning the skills that would keep him alive and allow him to accomplish his dreams because like the Hokage Iruka fully believed that Naruto had what it takes.

"Well of course there is brat; you've got a fully qualified teacher right here in front of you and he's more than willing to help you get started." Naruto's mood suddenly took a full 180° turn and his smile went into over drive. Smiling at the change in his mood Iruka couldn't help the affection he felt towards the kid the he called his surrogate little brother.

"You're the best Iruka-sensei, what will we be learning, will you be teaching me cool jutsu, super awesome taijutsu moves what about that grand fire ball thingy that Sasuke-teme can do, will you teach….WHACK" Naruto was suddenly silence by a sharp knock to the head courtesy of one Iruka-sensei

"Calm down you little brat, first of I won't be teaching you any jutsu at least not at first, what I'm going to teach is the stuff you should have learned during you time at school but didn't, we are going to work on stealth, strategy, tracking, history, chakra control and taijutsu only when you have learnt all of these things then will I teach you some jutsu but don't be expecting very high rank jutsu the highest I know is a B-rank but if you impress me I will teach you it you got that." Naruto groaned and slumped slightly in his chair

"But sensei" he whined "That stuff is boring I wanna get to the cool stuff so I can kick teme's ass" Iruka palmed his forehead and prayed to kami above that he would be granted the patience to deal with Naruto, he loved the kid but he could get on a monks nerves.

"Naruto you need to learn this stuff it is the basics which all ninja talents are derived from, you need chakra control for genjutsu and ninjutsu, taijutsu is key in any battle between ninja, history and strategy go hand in hand we can learn how our enemies fought in the past and we can discuss their weaknesses, strengths and learn how to counter them if you were ever put in that position and as for stealth and tracking we are shinobi after all most of our work is clandestine but I don't think you will have any problem with any stealth or tracking lessons.

"But sensei….." Naruto whined

"But nothing Naruto this stuff is important and it will save your life, promise me Naruto that you will try your very best in these lessons" Iruka was pleading with Naruto, if he was being honest with himself he would have liked to have kept Naruto in the academy for another year but he didn't want to see that heartbroken face being directed at him again, this was a golden opportunity to ready Naruto for shinobi life and he could not, would not let it pass him by. Naruto grumbled about things being unfair and how the future Hokage should be able to get awesome jutsu but by the look in his eyes Iruka knew that he had gotten through to him, he could have danced on his desk at that moment.

"Alright I promise to learn all of the stupid boring stuff as long as you promise to teach me that cool b-rank jutsu" Iruka smiled at Naruto and nodded his head "It's a deal."

Iruka and Naruto proceeded to make a time table of where and when they were going to meet up at by the time they were done the moon had risen clearly in the sky shining its light onto konoha. Another orb was also active that night an orb which looked over all of konoha but instead of it being in the sky it was in the hands of a wizened old man. Hiruzen Sarutobi had kept his watchful eyes on his adopted grandson all through his first day as a shinobi of the leaf and he could not have been happier or more proud of him when he went to Iruka for guidance. Iruka, now there was a shinobi who truly possessed the will of fire and to help a fellow ninja even one who he had a close relationship with made the respect the Hokage had for the man raise several notches. He decided that he was going to keep a close eye on these lessons and perhaps he will give Iruka something extra on his monthly pay check he also needed to give Iruka several pointers to help speed up the lessons that he was going to teach Naruto, after all the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu was extremely versatile when use in the correct fashion, nodding to himself he turned away from the viewing orb and called out to a seemingly empty office

"Bird" appearing out of nowhere a figure dressed head to toe in black and white armour knelt before his hokage, on his face he wore a white ceramic mask painted in the pattern of a bird "will you please tell chunin Umino Iruka to come to my office first thing in the morning"

"Hai Hokage-sama" the figure took a deep bow before disappearing not leaving the slightest trace that he was there in the first place.

"I have high hopes for you Naruto" he whispered to himself "I know that with the proper guidance you can be the greatest shinobi to have ever lived" He then returned his gaze to the seeing orb on his desk, it displayed a picture of Naruto sleeping soundly and peacefully he dozed without any troubles unaware of the destiny that lay before him and the trials that he would one day have to face.

"Sleep well Naruto-kun"

* * *

Hi guys, i hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my new story. I hope to actually get this one finished. I plan to have an update every two weeks or so but if i have not updated in that time i give you permission to annoy with pm's that tell me to get my ass in gear, i have no doubt in my mind that i will be late at least once after all i am a master at procrastination. I am also looking for a beta so if anyone is interested feel free to contact me. also constructive criticism is welcome and feel free to point out any mistakes you happen to notice after all im not an english teacher so i cant mark myself for grammar and spelling.

Peace out fellow loungers.


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